[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1532 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1532

To amend the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014 to 
 modify the distance requirements regarding the eligibility of certain 
 veterans to receive medical care and services from non-Department of 
          Veterans Affairs facilities, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 23, 2015

Mr. Emmer of Minnesota (for himself, Mr. Schweikert, Mr. Latta, and Mr. 
Hurd of Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014 to 
 modify the distance requirements regarding the eligibility of certain 
 veterans to receive medical care and services from non-Department of 
          Veterans Affairs facilities, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Keeping our Promises to Veterans Act 
of 2015''.

SEC. 2. MODIFICATION OF ELIGIBILITY OF VETERANS CHOICE PROGRAM AND 
              IMPLEMENTATION OF PROMPT PAYMENT REQUIREMENT.

    (a) Eligibility Requirements.--
            (1) Distance.--Subsection (b)(2)(B) of section 101 of the 
        Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014 (38 
        U.S.C. 1701 note) is amended to read as follows:
                    ``(B) resides more than 20 miles from the closest 
                medical facility of the Department, including a 
                community-based outpatient clinic, that is able to 
                provide to the veteran the care and services that the 
                veteran seeks;''.
            (2) Wait-time goal.--Subsection (s) of such section is 
        amended to read as follows:
    ``(s) Wait-Time Goals of the Veterans Health Administration.--In 
this section, the term `wait-time goals of the Veterans Health 
Administration' means not more than 15 days from the date on which a 
veteran requests an appointment for hospital care or medical services 
from the Department.''.
    (b) Prompt Payment.--Section 105(b)(1) of such Act is amended by 
adding at the end the following new sentences: ``The Secretary shall 
implement such system by not later than the earlier of the date that is 
180 days after the date on which the Comptroller General of the United 
States submits the report under subsection (c) or February 1, 2016. The 
Secretary shall publish on the Internet website of the Department an 
explanation of how such system will standardize payments.''.
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